By Bill Center, The Sports Xchange
SAN DIEGO — Andrew Cashner threw the third shutout of his career Monday night as the San Diego Padres defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 in the opener of a four-game series at Petco Park.
Cashner (4-7)...

PHILADELPHIA – Nobody is going to mistake Garrett Jones – Saturday's starting right fielder – for Giancarlo Stanton. Yet Jones did a viable impression of the Marlins' sidelined slugger.
Making his first outfield start since last Sept....

PHILADELPHIA — Since Jerome Williams was claimed on waivers by the Philadelphia Phillies in August, he's given them more than they could have ever hoped for.
After a disastrous first half of the season with Houston and Texas, he didn't allowed more...

Anthony Recker delivered a key three-run homer and the New York Mets held off the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game set.
Wilmer Flores collected three hits while David Wright, Matt den Dekker and Dilson Herrera each...

PHILADELPHIA — It's been a while since the Phillies were able to win back-to-back series and it's been even longer since they won one at home against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The club had played 33 series since April 27 — when it beat the Arizona Diamondbacks two games to one for the second series win in a row — without winning consecutive sets. The last time they took one from the Cardinals in Philadelphia was Aug. 12, 2012.
The Phillies ended both trends Sunday afternoon at...

A year ago at this time, Cameron Rupp was wrapping up a season in which he surpassed Tommy Joseph and Sebastian Valle to emerge as the Phillies' top catching prospect and was heading toward a September call-up.
This season, Rupp is hoping for a strong finish to salvage something out of what's been a disastrous season with the IronPigs.
After going 0-for-3 in a 3-2 loss to Syracuse Saturday night in the opener of a doubleheader at Coca-Cola Park, the 25-year-old is batting only .159 in 54 games.
Last...

Considering how dominant Cole Hamels' pitching had been lately, his previous start looked like an anomaly.
In that game five days ago against the San Francisco Giants, a 5-3 win, Hamels gave up three earned runs on nine hits after allowing a total of three earned runs in his previous five outings.
Hamels turned in a similar performance Wednesday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park and the Phillies received a comparable outcome — a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.
These two starts have been a little...

Wil Nieves Photos

PHILADELPHIA — Things have not gone as smoothly as Darin Ruf would have liked this season.
He injured his oblique at the worst possible time in spring training and then got hurt again in June at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Partially because of the injuries he's sustained and somewhat because there's a logjam on the Phillies roster at the positions Ruf plays, he's only started eight games with the big league club this year.
When he returned from the first injury, the Phillies wanted Ruf to get as many...

PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies dealt one of their starting pitchers to the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, it just wasn't the one that was rumored to be a fit for the west coast team before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
Instead of shipping out Cole Hamels, the Phillies sent Roberto Hernandez to the Dodgers for two players to be named later or cash considerations. Hernandez will become a free agent at the end of the season and had the Phillies not traded him, they would have received nothing....

PHILADELPHIA — After helping the Phillies win the first game of this series against the Houston Astros, knocking in both runs Philadelphia scored, Ryan Howard was asked about the faith his manager, Ryne Sandberg, has had keeping him in the clean up spot.
"People forget what I've done," Howard said.
He followed up that performance with another solid showing Wednesday and with a couple more nights like that, Howard won't need to go back in time to justify his playing time, contract or anything he'...